Week 5 Preview: Georgia Southern at James Madison

Georgia Southern and James Madison will meet this weekend in Harrisonburg, the Sun Belt Conference opener for both programs. JMU enters the game coming off a 31-13 win over Liberty last week while Georgia Southern defeated Maine 45-17. This will be Georgia Southern and JMU’s 11th meeting all time, in which Georgia Southern has won nine of those games. JMU enters the game as 17.5 point favorite.

Georgia Southern

The Eagles came off of a solid 45-17 victory last weekend against Maine. While it wasn’t an impressive first half they did play much better in the second stanza. The defense has definitely improved after their first two games of the season, in which they gave up over 50 points per game.

Last weekend they went for 516 offensive yards including, 253 passing yards and a touchdown from quarterback JC French IV. OJ Arnold has found his footing the last few weeks as he rushed for 85 yards, a touchdown, and over six yards-per-carry last weekend.

Camden Brown has been one of the best receivers in the nation this season, with 281 receiving yards, five touchdowns, and 18.7 yards per catch. Dallen Cobb has started to become more of a factor lately as he had a receiving touchdown last weekend against Maine as well. The Eagles will still look to get guys like Dylan Gary involved to keep the pass game improving.

stats on the Georgia Southern WR core
(Note Josh Dallas has been injured)
Camden Brown
leads the SBC in touchdowns 5
17.3 ADOT
3/5 contested catches (5th most)
2.3 YAC (3rd least)
73.7 grade 11th best

Dalen Cobb
6 drops 1st
3/6 CTC

Dallas
3.8 ADOT
7.1 YAC (11th)

— Riley Maleitzke (@MLS_AfterDark) September 22, 2025

Defensively Georgia Southern only gave up 248 offensive yards to Maine which was their best outing defensively of the season. The run game defense has been especially bad at time this season but after only giving 109 rushing yards last weekend the Eagles feel they have improved in that aspect as well. With the Duke’s offensive line the Eagles will need to play their best up front to help stop the run and not wear down the secondary.

James Madison

The Dukes came off another impressive win last week with a 31-13 victory over Liberty. Those types of wins have already become expected in the Bob Chesney era. JMU got off to a bit of a slow start but it was all Dukes in the second half, as they outscored Liberty 21-3.

Last weekend JMU went for 430 offensive yards including 213 passing yards and a touchdown from quarterback Alonza Barnett III. Wayne Knight led the Dukes rushing attack with 89 rushing yards and a touchdown while the passing attack was a pretty mixed bag with four Dukes going over 40 receiving yards on the day.

JMU has one of the best defenses in the nation so far this season especially through the passing game. Liberty quarterback Ethan Vasko only had 37 passing yards last week. Through three games this season the Dukes have only allowed 17 points per game.

James Madison LB Trent Hendrick joined me on postgame after the win at Liberty.

Hendrick led the Dukes with six tackles as the JMU defense limited the Flames to 233 total yards to win the Battle of the Blue Ridge.

🔊 https://t.co/7FdoVOE7Fn @JMUFootball | @TrentHendrick1 pic.twitter.com/3UbYkIOt77

— Dave Riggert (@DaveRiggert) September 21, 2025

One would expect the Dukes to be the better team up front. If the Eagles are going to have chance they will have to really impress up front. The JMU running back room is packed with speed and skill, they have a solid wide receiver room, and a very good dual threat quarterback.

The Dukes being the favorite at home isn’t surprising, but this early season conference game can really shape the rest of the season for both teams.